Poll: Congress approval hits new low

The number of Americans who approve of their own representative in Congress has reached an all-time low, according to a poll released Tuesday.

In a Washington Post-ABC News poll, 51 percent of Americans said that they disapprove of the way their member of Congress is “handling his or her job.” Forty-one percent approve of how their member handles his or her work, the lowest approval rating that The Washington Post and ABC News has found. This is the first time in 25 years that the number of Americans who disapprove of their own Congress member has risen over 50 percent, according to the Post.

Still, Democrats are seeing more favorable ratings than Republicans. Of those polled, 49 percent said that they have a “favorable impression of the Democratic Party,” while only 35 percent answered the same for the GOP.

These results come on the same day that voters in Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Washington will be casting their ballots for midterm election primaries. On June 15, a Gallup poll found that only 15 percent of Americans approve of the way Congress is handling its job, with a plurality answering that the solution for fixing the legislative branch would be to clear house.

This poll was conducted July 30-Aug. 3 among 1,029 people and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.